Update Release Graph

Generated graph (outputs — do not hand-edit)

release-notes/
├── index.json                          ← root: all major versions
├── llms.json                           ← AI entry point: latest patches per supported version
├── {ver}/
│   ├── index.json                      ← major: all patches for this version
│   ├── manifest.json                   ← reference hub: compatibility, OS support, what's-new
│   ├── sdk/
│   │   ├── index.json                  ← SDK version index
│   │   └── sdk-{band}.json            ← per-band SDK history
│   ├── downloads/
│   │   ├── index.json                  ← components + feature bands
│   │   ├── runtime.json                ← per-RID runtime downloads
│   │   ├── sdk.json                    ← per-RID SDK downloads
│   │   ├── sdk-{band}.json            ← per-RID band-specific SDK downloads
│   │   ├── aspnetcore.json             ← per-RID ASP.NET Core downloads
│   │   └── windowsdesktop.json         ← per-RID Windows Desktop downloads
│   └── {patch}/
│       └── index.json                  ← patch detail (immutable after creation)
└── timeline/
    ├── index.json                      ← timeline root: all years
    ├── {year}/
    │   ├── index.json                  ← year: all months with releases
    │   └── {month}/
    │       └── index.json              ← month: all patches released (immutable)

Graph generators

The release-notes tool includes four graph generation commands:

All accept the same arguments:

release-notes generate <type> <input-dir> [output-dir] [--url-root <url>]

When to use

• A new .NET patch release ships (monthly servicing) — source data is updated, graph needs regenerating
• A new .NET major version is added — _manifest.json and initial releases.json are created
• CVE data changes — cve.json files are updated, graph needs refreshing
• A .NET version reaches end-of-life — _manifest.json is updated, graph needs regenerating
• Any source data file is modified and the graph should reflect the changes

Prerequisites

release-notes

The release-notes tool handles both graph generation and legacy file operations. The public dotnet-release tool is for navigating release data and CVEs. Packages are published to GitHub Packages.

dotnet tool install -g release-notes \
  --add-source https://nuget.pkg.github.com/richlander/index.json

# Verify — should show graph generation commands
release-notes --help

Note: GitHub Packages requires authentication even for public repositories. If you get a 401 error, configure credentials for the source:

dotnet nuget add source https://nuget.pkg.github.com/richlander/index.json \
  --name github-richlander \
  --username USERNAME \
  --password "$GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  --store-password-in-clear-text

markdownlint

npm install -g markdownlint-cli

Inputs

The user provides:

• What changed — new patch release, new major version, EOL update, CVE refresh, etc.
• Which source files were updated — releases.json, release.json, _manifest.json, etc.
• Optionally, a custom --url-root for link generation (defaults to the release-index branch URL)

Process — Regenerate after a new patch release

This is the most common operation. Source data (releases.json, release.json) has been updated with a new patch release.

1. Verify source data is ready

Confirm these files exist and are updated:

# The major version's releases.json must include the new patch
cat release-notes/{ver}/releases.json | python3 -c "
import sys, json
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
print(f\"Latest: {data['releases'][0]['release-version']} ({data['releases'][0]['release-date']})\")"

# The patch directory should exist with release.json
ls release-notes/{ver}/{patch}/
# Expected: release.json, {patch}.md

The _manifest.json should also be present for the major version:

cat release-notes/{ver}/_manifest.json | python3 -c "
import sys, json
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
print(f\"Version: {data['version']}, Phase: {data['support_phase']}, EOL: {data.get('eol_date', 'N/A')}\")"

2. Run the graph generators

The simplest approach is generate indexes which runs all three generators in sequence:

# Generate all graph files in one shot
release-notes generate indexes release-notes

Or run each generator individually (order matters: version-index → timeline-index → llms-index):

release-notes generate version-index release-notes
release-notes generate timeline-index release-notes
release-notes generate llms-index release-notes

Custom URL root (for PR review before merging to release-index):

release-notes generate indexes release-notes --url-root https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dotnet/core/<commit-sha>

Separate output directory (to inspect output without overwriting source):

release-notes generate indexes release-notes /tmp/graph-output

The default URL root is https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dotnet/core/refs/heads/release-index/release-notes/.

3. Regenerate legacy files

# Regenerate releases-index.json from releases.json files
release-notes generate releases-index release-notes

# Regenerate releases.md
release-notes generate releases release-notes

4. Validate

# Verify release links and hashes (can take minutes — do not cancel)
release-notes verify releases release-notes
# Or for a specific version
release-notes verify releases {ver} release-notes
# Skip hash verification for faster iteration
release-notes verify releases release-notes --skip-hash

# Lint generated markdown
npx markdownlint --config .github/linters/.markdown-lint.yml release-notes/releases.md

Exit codes for verify:

• 0 — no issues
• 2 — issues found (report written to stdout as markdown)

5. Spot-check the graph

Verify key relationships are correct:

# Root index lists all versions
python3 -c "
import json
data = json.load(open('release-notes/index.json'))
for r in data['_embedded']['releases']:
    print(f\"{r['version']}: supported={r.get('supported', 'N/A')}\")"

# Major index has the new patch as latest
python3 -c "
import json
data = json.load(open('release-notes/{ver}/index.json'))
print(f\"Latest patch: {data['latest_patch']}\")
print(f\"First embedded: {data['_embedded']['patches'][0]['version']}\")"

# Month timeline includes the patch
python3 -c "
import json
data = json.load(open('release-notes/timeline/{year}/{month}/index.json'))
for ver, patch in data['_embedded']['patches'].items():
    print(f\"{ver}: {patch['version']}\")"

# llms.json is current
python3 -c "
import json
data = json.load(open('release-notes/llms.json'))
for ver, patch in data['_embedded']['patches'].items():
    print(f\"{ver}: {patch['version']} ({patch['date']})\")"

6. Commit and PR

git checkout -b update-release-graph-{date}
git add release-notes/
git commit -m "Update release graph — {summary}"
gh pr create --title "Update release graph — {summary}" --body "{description}"

Process — Add a new major version

When a new .NET major version is added (e.g. .NET 11.0):

1. Create source data files

Create the _manifest.json with lifecycle data and reference links:

# release-notes/{ver}/_manifest.json

{
  "kind": "manifest",
  "title": ".NET {ver} Manifest",
  "version": "{ver}",
  "label": ".NET {ver}",
  "target_framework": "net{ver_no_dot}",
  "release_type": "lts|sts",
  "support_phase": "preview|active",
  "ga_date": "20XX-11-XXTXX:XX:XXZ",
  "eol_date": "20XX-XX-XXTXX:XX:XXZ",
  "_links": {
    "downloads-html": { "href": "https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/{ver}", "title": "...", "type": "text/html" },
    "whats-new-html": { "href": "https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/whats-new/dotnet-{major}/overview", "title": "...", "type": "text/html" },
    "whats-new": { "href": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dotnet/docs/main/docs/core/whats-new/dotnet-{major}/overview.md", "title": "...", "type": "application/markdown" },
    "compatibility-html": { "href": "https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/compatibility/{ver}", "title": "...", "type": "text/html" }
  }
}

Create the initial releases.json with the first release entry.

Create the release.json in the patch directory.

2. Regenerate

Same as the patch release process — run release-notes generate indexes release-notes → legacy files.

3. Verify the new version appears

• In index.json root: new version in _embedded.releases
• In timeline/index.json: version added to the appropriate year's major_releases
• In llms.json: version in supported_major_releases and _embedded.patches

Process — Mark a version EOL

1. Update source data

Edit release-notes/{ver}/_manifest.json:

• Set "support_phase": "eol"
• Set "supported": false (if present)

2. Regenerate outputs

Run all generators. The tools will:

• Set supported: false in root index
• Remove from llms.json supported_major_releases and _embedded.patches
• Update support_phase in major index

Source data conventions

_manifest.json (partial manifest)

This is the authoritative source for lifecycle data. The generators merge it with computed data to produce the full manifest.json.

Required fields: kind, title, version, label, target_framework, release_type, support_phase, ga_date, eol_date.

The _links section contains reference links that are merged into the generated manifest. These are links that cannot be computed (what's-new pages, compatibility docs, release blog, etc.).

release.json (per-patch)

Contains the full release data for a single patch: component versions, download URLs, file hashes. This is a subset of the corresponding entry in releases.json.

The generators use release.json to:

• Build patch detail indexes with embedded runtime/SDK data
• Generate per-RID download files
• Compute SDK feature band information

Preview releases

Preview/RC releases are stored in a different directory structure:

• {ver}/preview/preview1/ for preview.1
• {ver}/preview/rc1/ for RC1

The generators automatically detect this from the version string (contains -preview. or -rc.).

After GA, the generators filter previews from _embedded.patches in the major index. RC releases are kept because they have go-live support.

Graph conventions

Mutability

Immutable files use only prev-* links (no next). Mutable files use latest-* links.

Key facts

• The graph is fully generated — edit source data (releases.json, release.json, _manifest.json), then run the generators
• Never hand-edit generated files (index.json, manifest.json, llms.json, downloads files, timeline indexes)
• _manifest.json (with underscore prefix) is the source; manifest.json (without prefix) is the generated output
• Similarly, _llms.json is optional source overrides; llms.json is the generated output
• releases-index.json (legacy flat format) is generated by release-notes generate releases-index
• releases.md is generated by release-notes generate releases
• The generators are idempotent — running them on unchanged source data produces identical output
• When running individually, order matters: version-index → timeline-index → llms-index; generate indexes handles this automatically
• All _links.*.href values are absolute URLs; the base URL is controlled by --url-root
• _embedded.patches is an array (newest first) in major indexes; an object keyed by major version in month indexes
• CVE data in the graph comes from timeline/{year}/{month}/cve.json

Common mistakes